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A Church in Crisis
By Tony Azios
Announcements following Sunday Mass typically focus on matters important to a healthy, functioning community, but mundane to the outside world - reminders of an upcoming fundraiser, a change of schedule for the weekly men’s meeting, details of a rosary in honor of a parishioner’s mother. But last Sunday night, as the 6 p.m. Mass wrapped up at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Yigo, Rev. Patrick Garcia took the opportunity to lead the congregation in a drill. “Members of the media may come up to you and ask who the archbishop is,” he reportedly said. “Don’t embarrass yourself. Say Savio Tai Fai Hon, not Anthony Apuron.” Garcia instructed the congregation to repeat Hon’s full name after him several times aloud. As dusk fell, Our Lady of Lourdes echoed with the chorus of the name of a man sent by the Vatican to remedy a church in crisis. One way or another Before the recent allegations of sexual abuse against Archbishop Apuron (who currently retains the title but none of the administrative authority of the office), a series of diverse scandals has steadily rocked the foundations of the Archdiocese of Agaña. Much of the conflict is rooted in a perceived power struggle between mainstream Catholics and the Neocatechumenal Way - an organization within the Catholic Church with practices outside traditional Catholic custom. Far beyond a theological disagreement, the situation has devolved into allegations of fiscal mismanagement and the appropriation of community assets; open accusations of corrupt, self-serving relationships among some archdiocesan leadership; the transfer of control of a valuable piece of real estate functioning as a seminary from archdiocesan control to a board controlled by Neocatechumenal officials; the removal of two popular priests; and, the perceived neglect of some parishes in favor of others. Many devout Catholics on Guam now refuse to attend services held by priests adherent to the Neocatechumenal Way, also known as the NCW. Many “Neos” return the sense of distrust toward the island’s traditional Catholics, claiming persecution by slander. “The [local] Church is divided. That is a fact,” said David Sablan, vice president of Concerned Catholics of Guam (CCOG), a nonprofit organization formed to give voice and direction to concerns regarding the NCW on Guam and Apuron’s alleged misconduct. “Apuron has basically abdicated his office to support one particular organization within the archdiocese when he really should be at the head of all of the organization,” said Sablan. “He’s not doing that, and as a result we’re basically without a shepherd and are in a confused state.” Apuron, however, has dismissed allegations against him and the NWC as lies and a concerted effort to destroy the Catholic Church, and has threatened lawsuit. After years of open hostilities, Apuron’s final action before ceding his authority to Archbishop Hon - who was appointed by Pope Francis as temporary apostolic administrator for the archdiocese, a rare move typically reserved for when an archbishop dies or is unable to fulfill his duties - was to issue a decree declaring the Concerned Catholics of Guam a “prohibited society” which local Catholics should not support, promote, or associate with. (The decree was later removed from the archdiocese’s website, placed under review, and, on June 16, rescinded. Hon said he did so "with deep concern for the best interests of the Archdiocese of Agana, particularly for the promotion of reconciliation and deeper communion of all members of this particular church.") As grave and intractable as the schism appeared to some, virtually no one was prepared for the coming sexual abuse allegations - a veritable earthquake that would split wide open the local Church’s fragile bedrock. Sex, lies, and videotapes The first warning arrived October 2014, in the unlikely form of a YouTube video featuring a former Guam resident and seminary dropout dancing to the song “Money (That's What I Want)” while in costume as Archbishop Apuron. John Toves, a 52-yer-old fitness instructor who now lives and cares for his ailing parents in Foster City, California, didn’t have a clear plan of action beyond satire when he dressed up as Apuron. “There was no big meeting of the minds with anybody,” Toves recently told the Post. “I just felt I needed to do something, and I was off-island. So I thought, well, I’m going to put up my first YouTube shot at him.” Toves said he had known for over three decades that Apuron - while a bishop - had an inappropriate sexual relationship with his cousin, a teenager at the time, at Father Dueñas Minor Seminary in Mangilao. Old friends on Guam from the minor seminary, which Toves also attended, kept him informed of Apuron’s controversial relationship with the NCW, his perceived neglect of non-Neo parishes, and the alleged punishing of clergy who resisted the growing influence of the NCW in their churches. The video, Toves said, was his way of taking Apuron down a peg and making him just another fallible man. “I needed to do something, and I wanted to draw as much attention as I possibly could to draw light to the issues,” he said. “It didn’t place me in any great favor with the dignified community … But it worked, because people were talking about why someone would go to this extent. And bad press was good press because it kept bringing Apuron up over and over and over and over. So, objective accomplished.” However, Toves had no intention of limiting his dissent to silly mockery. In November 2014, he sent letters accusing Apuron of sexually molesting his cousin to the archdiocese and the Vatican. Meanwhile, he continued his YouTube campaign and became an active contributor to JungleWatch, the go-to blog for Archdiocese of Agaña-related scandal news and commentary that has led the online battle to expose Apuron’s alleged improprieties - and those of NCW officials around him. But despite Toves’ and others efforts, the archbishop remained in place and business seemed to carry on unabated. A new urgency Things began to change dramatically on May 18, when Guam learned the name Roy Quintanilla. Two weeks later, Doris Concepcion and Joseph Quinata became household names here, as well. By the following week, when Walter Denton stood before the press to describe in painful detail his alleged rape at the hands of Apuron in the rectory of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in Agat, public sentiment had perceptibly changed. The question seemed to shift from, “Could this be true?” to “How many more victims are there?” The answers are still unclear. This past week, in what has quickly become a familiar scene in Hagåtña, yet another former altar boy from Agat - surrounded by reporters, family, and legal counsel in front of the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral Basilica - came forward with allegations of molestation by Apuron. Apuron’s alleged crimes now dominate newspaper headlines and the airwaves. With four individuals publicly accusing the archbishop of abuse since mid-May, and the arrival of Hon, past assertions of Apuron’s improprieties have taken on greater urgency and credibility. However, they have also taken a backseat to a steady stream of emotionally harrowing accounts of rape and molestation of children entrusted to a priest’s care. “The recent sex abuse allegations have enraged the people,” said Sablan. “In terms of all the things [CCOG] has said about the financial situation, the Neocatechumenal connection, what [Apuron] has done to a couple of good priests on the island, the squandering of finances, how he gave away part of the patrimony of the Church to a corporation he has no control over; all of these things do not amount to a hill of beans compared to what he did to these young men. And so, those concerns take a lower priority, in my opinion, over these sexual abuse allegations. This has to be corrected.” Caught in the Middle The sex abuse allegations have changed the calculus for many of those island faithful who had managed to sit out the doctrinal debates and attempt neutrality throughout the mounting criticisms and threats of lawsuit - those everyday Catholics just trying to live their lives and not get caught in the middle of an incredibly complicated, confusing clash. According to Toves, Rohr, and Sablan, Guam’s Catholics are now forced to acknowledge the gravity of how deeply the Church is divided. Each suggests that, following the sex abuse allegations, there is no longer a morally defensible way to be a participating member of the community while remaining dispassionate. “The Catholic faithful are being required to grow up,” Tim Rohr, the blogger behind JungleWatch, told the Post. “We haven’t had to deal with a crisis like this before. We’ve been able to hide behind our priests, but in this case it’s the archbishop doing the harm.” “Lay people are being forced to take responsibility,” said Rohr. “It’s not a comfortable process, but that’s how you grow. Now the public is forced to confront these [scandals].” Moving forward It is still unclear what Archbishop Hon’s plans are for Apuron, or if there will be a reordering of the archdiocese to lessen the influence of the Neocatechumenal Way here. So far, Hon has not publicly gone much further than acknowledging at a vigil that “the Guam community (is) experiencing the pain of division” and called for patience, serenity, and prayer among island Catholics as he tries to learn more about what has led to the schism and what can be done to resolve it. No small tasks for Hon or the laity. Hon’s statements have set the right tone to move toward forgiveness and unity, said Father Jeff San Nicolas, principal of Father Dueñas Memorial School. “I appreciate Archbishop Hon’s call for serenity in this time of pain,” he said. The Church needs to “enter into discussion as one family. What we need first is a sense of peace, and then genuine dialogue.” San Nicolas believes the crucial steps needed to reunify the Church are to acknowledge the wounds inflicted over the years, a sincere effort toward truth and reconciliation, and dialogue about spiritual differences. “I think there’s a lot of shock, hurt, pain and sadness when any leader in the Church is accused of a crime,” said San Nicolas. “I feel that as well. I hope the truth comes out … As big as the issue is with the sex abuse allegations, I think the thing that’s more painful for people here is the lack of unity in the [local] Church. The sexual abuse issue is just one aspect.” Pat Wolff is a lifelong Catholic who founded Inafa' Maolek, a conflict resolution organization. He maintains a patient optimism that the rifts within the local Church can ultimately be mended. “I am confident that the Holy Spirit is still at work in God's Church here on Guam, and that resolution and reconciliation will happen over time. But some deep-seated conflicts do take time and won't heal overnight,” said Wolff in an email. “I believe both sides of our divided Church want unity and peace. To achieve this we need to dialogue with open minds and open hearts, not hardened positions.” But there are specific demands and hardened positions from some of the people who have fought hardest and longest to bring Apuron’s alleged crimes to light. They argue that the only way forward is: for the Vatican to remove Apuron from any position within the Church; acknowledge and attend to his victims; the reinstatement of the Father Paul Goffigan and Monsignor James Benavente, whose abrupt removals are deeply contested; repudiate Apuron’s claim that Hon is in Guam at his own request rather than at the behest of his victims and whistleblowers; and to bring the NWC in line with the Church’s laws and tenets. Toves, for one, says he has faith that Hon will be able to meet the immediate needs of the local Church. Yet, he is not placing all of his faith in a “hero” who swoops in to save the day. He says he will remain vigilant and speak up, as before, if he feels that progress is not being made to restore the Church and address its wounds. “It’s fine to sit down and have some patience, but only a reasonable amount of patience. You know when nothing is turning around. I wish the island faithful will be ready to stand again if it is not working. I will pray my hardest that it works … I want it to work, but I’d be one of the first to say if it’s not.” And after years of fighting, he too is ready to let the healing begin. “The wound is there, but the scab does begin to form at some point. Unfortunately, the wound is really deep right now. With the arrival of our new apostolic administrator, hopefully we reach the scab stage and then begin the beautiful laying of fiber back into its pattern.”
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